The invention relates to ink jet printers and in particular apparatus and methods for connecting a filter tower structure to a permanent or semi-permanent printhead.
Ink jet printers and recorders are continually being improved to improve print speed and performance. However, some of the improvements cause difficulties in manufacturing and assembling of the components to one another. One area of improvement which has resulted in the need for different manufacturing techniques is the advent of high speed printheads which contain an increased number of nozzle holes and nozzle hole arrays as compared to earlier versions of such printheads. Such printheads are more costly to manufacture and thus are designed for longer life in order to reduce the cost of the consumable ink supply component of the printers. In the longer life printheads, one or more replaceable ink cartridges containing ink are attached to a cartridge body which contains one or more permanent or semi-permanent printheads.
The cartridge body may be made of a variety of materials including plastics, metals and composites containing ceramic or carbon components. A particularly preferred cartridge body is a metal cartridge body which is adapted to conduct heat away from the printheads during printing operations. The metal cartridge bodies contain a connection port or device in ink flow communication with the printheads for attaching a replaceable ink cartridge to the cartridge body. In order to protect the ink port from debris during ink cartridge replacement, a filtration device is used. Debris entering the ink port of the cartridge body has a detrimental effect on the operation of the printhead due to the size of ink passages leading to the nozzle arrays of the printheads. The ink filtration device is typically constructed separately from the cartridge body, and thus the filtration device must be attached to the cartridge body during a manufacturing operation.
An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method for connecting an ink filtration device to a cartridge body.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for attaching a filtration device to a cartridge body which reduces the amount of debris which may occur during manufacturing steps therefor.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method for sealingly connecting a filtration device to a cartridge body for one or more printheads.
Still another object of the invention is to a relatively simple but effective means for aligning and connecting a filtration device to a cartridge body which enhances the manufacturing operation of permanent or semi-permanent printheads.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method which improves the operation of an ink jet printhead.
With regard to the foregoing and other objects and advantages, the invention provides a printhead apparatus which includes a cartridge body containing one or more printheads on a first surface thereof, one or more connection apertures in flow communication with the one or more printheads, each aperture having an opening on a second surface opposite the first surface and one or more ink filtration devices having an ink outlet port connected to the second surface of the cartridge body through the opening so that each ink outlet port is in flow communication with at least one connection aperture.
In another aspect the invention provides an ink jet printer including one or more permanent or semi-permanent printheads on a cartridge body containing one or more printheads on a first surface thereof, one or more connection apertures in flow communication with the one or more printheads, each aperture having an opening on a second surface opposite the first surface, one or more ink filtration devices having an ink outlet port connected to the second surface of the cartridge body through the opening so that each ink outlet port is in flow communication with at least one connection aperture and one or more removable ink cartridges attached to the cartridge body, each cartridge containing an ink feed port for connection to the filtration device attached to the cartridge body between the cartridge and the cartridge body for filtering ink flowing to at least one of the printheads.
In yet another aspect the invention provides a method for attaching an ink filtration device to an ink feed port of an ink jet printer for providing filtered ink to one or more permanent or semi-permanent ink jet printheads which includes providing a cartridge body containing one or more printheads disposed on one surface thereof and having an aperture on a second surface thereof for each printhead for flow of ink to the printheads, providing an ink filtration device having a filter element attached to an ink feed port, aligning the filtration device with the aperture and sealingly inserting the ink feed port of the filtration device in the aperture to provide a cartridge body containing the filtration device.
An advantage of the apparatus and method of the invention is that the cartridge body and ink cartridge and filter elements may be constructed of different materials in order to enable better ink filtration and better heat conduction away from the printheads. Despite the difference in materials used for components of the printing devices, the manufacturing operation is relatively simple and the components may be attached to one another with little risk of damaging or blocking intricate ink flow paths in the printhead.